Chapter 29 Deletion
NOW YOU WILL DIE!” Marley’s booming voice cut through the Dinniman Dungeon.
Stone cracked.
Em’s companions let out a chorus of screams as the tunnel walls imploded around them. Dirt, dust, and rocks caved in, tumbling over the orc bodies.
Except—the floor evened out.
Em tugged her boots free of the rising mounds of dirt.
The tunnel walls fell away; the widening chamber opened into a vast, vaulted sanctuary.
Basins hung from chains on the ceiling beams overhead, spilling more of the green mist across the floors.
Ancient statues of ghouls lined the circular room.
Just about every other cliché dungeon feature hid within the nooks and crannies of the space.
“Ohhhhh, a secret room!” Jane said. As if they weren’t being actively hunted by a raging ghost.
“Get to cover!” Roden ordered.
In a flash, her friends dashed about the sanctuary, ducking behind statues or columns.
Em stood in the center of it all, turning in a semi-circle and craning her neck to take in the scenery. Green mist swept across the ground, swimming along her ankles. It reeked of warm mildew. And Kriqir.
There was no denying the necromancer had overtaken the Shelley Ghostly Swamps with his powers to grow his armies for his invasion over Novellas crumbling realms. Marley must’ve been one of his secret assets.
Shit shit shit.
“Em, what are you doing?” Ming screamed across the chamber. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“She’s always doing crazy stuff like that,” Polo’s voice spoke up, indifferent. “She’s a super brave princess after all.”
“I can’t have my first Main Character dying on me!” the mentor-in-training exclaimed. Ming waved her arms to try to catch her attention.
Defeat mixed with panic had numbed Em. The dark atmosphere tickled at her memories within Kriqir’s towers when she’d been kidnapped, the skull decor, the stench, the too-dim lighting. It was all so damn cliché.
Bitter tears for her unfortunate fate slipped from her eyes. Em couldn’t move if she wanted to. Dread lumped in her chest, and weariness ached in her bones.
After everything I’ve tried…
“She’s an asshole with a death wish,” Roden growled. The half-elf tore away from his hiding spot amongst the statues. His glare was deadly as he stalked toward Em. The swirling mist was swept away from the trains of his dark cloak.
“What are you doing, princess?” he demanded.
Em swallowed hard, her knees locked.
Marley’s haunting cackle reverberated throughout the chamber. The fog hissed extra sharply as it continued to drown out the air. Shadows of the ghost’s spirit crawled along the ceiling vaults, looming over them.
Roden yanked Em’s arm and dragged her into the shelter of one of the statues. His pine-scented cologne relieved her of the rotting stench of a dead orc.
“Are you crazy?” he demanded in a growl.
“Yes.” A hollow laugh slipped out of Em, matching Marley’s menacing cackling, echoing around them.
I’m going insane.
Concern softened the frustration on Roden’s face. His fingers loosened on her arms, and their noses practically brushed as he leaned closer. “Em?”
“Not now.” Em yanked herself free. “We need to kill the ghost.”
“Right.”
“YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!” Marley shouted again.
“Show yourself, Marley!” Gair challenged from across the sanctuary, bow and arrow aimed toward the vaulted ceiling. “Your time here in the Dinniman Dungeon is over!”
An aura of confidence emanated from her childhood best friend, like killing Brolzross had brought out Gair’s courage after all these years. It was as if he finally had something to identify with something he was proud of.
This is why I’m fighting these shitty tropes. A spark of hope flickered in Em again.
Sasha climbed up one of the statues, a knife clenched in her teeth. The dryad crawled into the upper rafters like a weightless spider. One shared glance, and Em knew she just needed to buy her friend time.
The churning green mist began to funnel in the center of the chamber.
I can do this.
A ghoulish figure materialized from the haze, gnarled and stretching and clawing at the air as it solidified into being. With a loud howl, Marley revealed himself. A snaking tongue lolled out of his fanged mouth, and sagging skin flopped along his skeletal frame.
The ghost towered over them all, at least ten feet tall, completely naked, bones visible where chunks of his rotting flesh were missing. He whipped his head around, glowing gaze locking onto Em. Those vibrant eyes sat like beaded orbs in his skulled head.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Time froze.
She and Marley examined one another.
A darkness, a rage hung in the mist surrounding the ghost. Everything tasted and smelled like blood. Pressure built up in her skull. Ice froze every inch of her body.
Marley sneered at her. “YOU WILL DIE.”
“Do you have a weapon?” Roden yelled into her ear, snapping Em back to life.
“What?”
“Do you have a weapon?” he demanded.
Em slapped at her hips, nothing but the dragon relic, journal, and Inky in her skirt pockets. Her stomach sank. This had become an awful habit. “No!”
“Why did I ever think giving this prophecy back to you was a good idea?” Roden shoved something into her hands.
The jagged weight of Destiny’s Song, Reaver of Diligence, cut into her grasp.
Its jeweled hilt dug into her palms. The blue hue of the glowing sword flickered to life at her touch, the glittery aura about it rising to life.
Marley’s snaking green mist melted away in the luminance of her sword. The ghost howled in exasperation.
Em tried to drop the weapon, protesting, but Roden snatched it out of midair and thrust it back into her grasp.
The hue of the blade cut across her vision.
A hum swept up her arms, and for half a moment, an ounce of adrenaline rushed over her.
Like the sword was trying to strengthen her for battle against the ghost.
“Don’t screw this up,” the half-elf ordered. He motioned toward the interns hiding across the dungeon from them. “Or they’re all going to die, and it’ll be your fault.”
Right. Em’s breath caught. It wasn’t like she had a choice.
Marley screamed, clawing at the air in reaction to the glow of her sword.
“Let’s go, Highness!” Polo cheered over the chaos. “Rip the ghost’s ass apart—and not in the fun way!”
Roden charged without another word, drawing a short sword. He let out an Elvish war cry, and as if on cue, Sasha dropped down from the rafters onto the writhing ghost. Gair’s bow sang out as an arrow cut across the chamber into the side of Marley’s splintered skull.
Em screamed, raised her sword, and attacked with it. Her blade found flesh. A white gunk spat out of the ghoul’s slashed arm. She staggered forward from her own momentum, then reeled around to swing again.
Marley’s cackling laughter turned into howls as her companions danced about him.
He knocked Sasha off himself, but the dryad gracefully rolled across the floor.
His long claws hacked against Roden and Em’s blows, but Gair’s whizzing arrows slammed into Marley’s back.
The monster flailed and struggled against them, stomping his massive feet.
Thankfully, a ghost couldn’t bleed. Em’s stomach remained unscathed as she stabbed and sliced at him until her arms throbbed in agony from the weight of her elaborate sword.
It wasn’t fair.
Despite everything—despite stealing her story back, hiring new interns, using Inky—the tropes kept on going. And now she was stuck with her original party again, fighting a stereotypical monster in a cliché dungeon.
Back to square one.
Fuck this shit.
Em channeled all her rage at her cursed plotline into Marley, slamming her sword into him. She swung and hacked and screamed as red dimmed the edges of her vision. Heat rushed through her boiling veins. She let out a shout, aiming for Marley’s chest.
With a jerk and squish, her sword impaled the ghoul straight through.
Marley’s agonized howl cut through the room.
She let her sword go.
The ghoul staggered away, clawing to try to pull Destiny’s Song free from his sternum. Bones popped as he struggled, and the sword’s glow faded as she lost contact.
Em jumped away, her companion’s cheers distant to her ringing ears.
But she wasn’t satisfied. Anger burned deep in her belly.
She had enough of this bullshit.
Em tore Inky and her journal free from her pocket. She gritted her teeth as she wrote out the words: “the Shelley Ghostly Swamps and Dinniman Dungeon disappeared, all of the ghosts and monsters died, and Em’s companions found themselves in a peaceful desert instead.”
With a crackling snap, reality melted away.
Marley’s dying howls gurgled as the ghost dissolved into thin air.
The dungeon walls collapsed, blue skies cutting across the scenery.
The ground shifted underneath Em, stealing a gasp from her, as she struggled to write out the balmy weather, the calm breeze, the rolling dunes—each word she wrote blurred into existence at her beckoning.
“Holy crap!” someone exclaimed. She wasn’t sure who, but she didn’t stop writing to check.
Peace, Em thought as she scratched words across the page. Peace, safety, originality.
A hand grabbed hers.
Em froze, torn from her trance.
Gair’s firm hand strangled her wrist. His icy eyes narrowed, but concern creased along his wrinkled brow.
“Breathe, Em,” he whispered. After he said it, she realized she was shaking all over.
Em heaved between choked sobs. The salt of her tears and the heat of her runny nose clung to her face. Exhaustion choked her mind from the intense focus it took to rewrite the climate around her.
“It’s okay,” Gair said. “We’re safe now. You saved us.”
Moans of her companions caught her attention. Marq knelt in the dune they stood on, clutching his chest and pretending to die for the dozenth time. Jane squinted in the bright desert sun, and Harry stood close to her, both scratching at their already burning, pasty arms.